Site items in: Ammonia Safety

Presentation

Ammonia – Could it replace HFO/LSFO?

George Karikoglou

The core of this presentation deals with the nature of ammonia, its natural characteristics that make it a future fuel solution candidate, the safety measures that need to be applied in order to carry it on board without endangering lives, environment & property, as well as whether this would be a feasible and cost- or risk-effective solution. For a long time, a lot of discussions have been centered around this subject, now bringing it to the immediate forefront & creating various questions that we will aim to answer to the interested individuals’, ship-managers’, businesses’, ship-owners’ and corporations’ satisfaction. Lloyd’s Register –…

Presentation

Safe and Effective Application of Ammonia As a Marine Fuel

Niels de Vries

To achieve significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in shipping and enable ship owner’s to eventually phase them out entirely renewable fuels, such as ammonia, play a crucial role. However, much is still unknown regarding application of ammonia as a marine fuel. An ammonia carrier is used as basis to perform the study identifying the marine technical feasibility and performance of ammonia. Furthermore, a safety analysis is performed on the system level providing the first design principles for ammonia powered vessels. The results of this theoretical research will be presented including an outlook on new developments on the implementation of…

Presentation

Safety of Ammonia As Hydrogen and Energy Carriers

Yoshitsugu Kojima

Ammonia (NH3) is liquefied at 1 MPa and 25 °C, and has a highest volumetric hydrogen density of 10.7 kg H2 /100L. It has a high gravimetric hydrogen density of 17.8 wt%. The heat of formation of NH3 is about 1/10 of combustion heat of hydrogen. NH3 has advantages as a hydrogen carrier for fuel cell vehicles and an energy carrier for power plants. In this research, the purpose is to figure out regulations for safety of NH3 in the world, and survey NH3 accident. We also characterize water as a NH3 absorbent. Regulations for flammability and health hazard are…

Article

Safety of Ammonia Energy: First Up, the Maritime Use Case?

Stephen H. Crolius November 07, 2019

ANNUAL REVIEW 2019: Ammonia. A hazardous chemical, no doubt. But is it too hazardous to use as an energy vector? This is a legitimate question that must be addressed as other aspects of the ammonia energy concept advance. It is also a question whose unique context can be evoked with two other questions: Haven’t the safety issues already been identified and resolved over the last 100 years of widespread agricultural and industrial use? And even if they have, how will the general public react when proposals for expanded ammonia infrastructure suddenly appear? The earliest tip of this particular iceberg came into view this year when the Dutch naval architecture firm C-Job released Safe and Effective Application of Ammonia as a Marine Fuel.

Presentation

Issues affecting safety risks with ammonia storage, transport and distribution

John Mott

Article

Bunker Ammonia: Rapid Cross-Sector Progress from Industry, Government, Finance, and Class Societies

Trevor Brown August 09, 2019

The maritime industry has been engaged in a frenzy of research since April 2018, when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced its Initial GHG Strategy mandating a 50% reduction in shipping's emissions by 2050. Three recent announcements illustrate the speed and depth of progress across a range of maritime stakeholders. In the government sector, the UK has launched its Clean Maritime Plan, which identifies ammonia as one of its strategic "clean growth opportunities." In finance, a coalition of 11 banks representing a shipping portfolio of around $100 billion has launched the Poseidon Principles to "redefine the role of banks in the maritime shipping sector." And class society ABS launched its Global Sustainability Center in Singapore to analyse, certify, and validate alternative fuels and new technologies; its Director of Global Sustainability will speak at the inaugural conference of the Ammonia Energy Association--Australia, held in Clayton, VIC, on August 22-23. His subject will be "Green ammonia as marine bunker fuel."

Article

Safe and Effective? New Study Evaluates Ammonia as a Marine Fuel

Stephen H. Crolius August 07, 2019

In mid-June the Dutch naval architecture firm C-Job released "Safe and effective application of ammonia as a marine fuel," a thesis written by the firm’s Lead Naval Architect Niels de Vries for the Marine Technology Master of Science program at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. While the thesis delivers an extensive assessment of ammonia's potential effectiveness as a marine fuel, it breaks new ground in its consideration of ammonia's safety in this context.

Article

An Open Letter to the International Energy Agency

Stephen H. Crolius July 08, 2019

To the Authors of The Future of Hydrogen: First I would like to thank you for an excellent report. I have devoted two Ammonia Energy posts to The Future of Hydrogen. If you read them, you will see that my appraisal is overwhelmingly positive. But I am writing this letter because I take issue with your characterization of ammonia's hazard profile. I hereby submit that your discussion in this regard is inaccurate and unhelpful.

Article

Ammonia as a Renewable Fuel for the Maritime Industry

Trevor Brown July 19, 2018

Last week, I wrote about a crucial new report that discusses four fuel technologies: batteries, hydrogen, ammonia, and nuclear. These could reduce the shipping sector's emissions in line with targets set in the IMO's Initial GHG Strategy. The report, Reducing CO2 Emissions to Zero, concludes that "all industry stakeholders ... need to get on with the job of developing zero CO2 fuels." This call to action should be consequential: it comes from the International Chamber of Shipping, an influential industry group that represents "more than 80% of the world merchant fleet." This week, I provide an example of the kind of research required, with an update on a project that aims to demonstrate "the technical feasibility and cost effectiveness of an ammonia tanker fueled by its own cargo." Although this project is still in its early days, I want to highlight three aspects that I believe will be crucial to its success. First, the work is being done by a consortium, bringing together many industry stakeholders, each with its own expertise and commercial interests. Second, the scope of research extends beyond conventional engine configurations to include not just new fuels but also new technology combinations; in other words, rather than assess new fuels in old engines, it aims to develop optimized propulsion designs for zero-emission fuels. And, third, its consideration of ammonia as a fuel begins with a comprehensive safety analysis.

Article

Safety Assessments of Ammonia as a Transportation Fuel

Trevor Brown June 07, 2018

New data from a number of ammonia energy safety studies will be published later this year. In the meantime, two excellent reports already exist that provide comparative, quantitative risk analyses. Each compares the risks of using ammonia as a fuel in passenger vehicles against the risks of other fuels, including gasoline, LPG, CNG, methanol, and hydrogen. Both conclude that the risks associated with using ammonia as a fuel are "similar, if not lower than for the other fuels."